The Steel Beat

You can’t fix what happened on Sunday in Foxboro. 

It’s done and done. 

A bad showing by one side of the ball (offense) lead to a tired 2nd half by the other side of the ball (defense). Sound familiar??

And the special teams has been anything but “special” so far.

You can only assess and move forward.

But things need to change.

• I would start by replacing the replacement level “starters” on the right side of the O-Line.

• Spencer Anderson is a decent replacement filler along the line. He is not an NFL level starter at any position on the O-Line. There is a reason why he was drafted in the 7th round. He became a fan-favorite by being the tackle-eligible player in the Arthur Smith offense. He’s not a starting-level G at the NFL level. 

• He gotta go.

• Dylan Cook might not even be a replacement level player in the NFL. Sure, he had a couple of decent games last year filling in down the stretch, but there is a reason why he was undrafted, waived 4 times and prior to this season and has made all of 6 starts in the NFL at the age of 28. He’s just not that good.

• He gotta go.

• Both Anderson and Cook got a lot of TV time yesterday because you could read their names on the back of their jersey as they turned around to watch the guy they were supposed to block either blow up Aaron Rodgers or watch a Patriots player pick up a fumble by Rodgers because they didnt block anyone on any particular play to note. They are backups. Let’s treat them that way.

• Move Hoffman and Max into the starting lineup. Hoffman has been a quality starter in the McCarthy system and provides stability next to Max. Max needs to get playing time now. His bad is so much better than Cook’s good. 

• Please use Jaylen Warren more as a weapon. I know McCarthy has a history with Dowdle. Great, use him in the Najee Harris role. But Warren is dynamic in space and gets better as the game goes along. He is a weapon on an offense that is lacking weapons.

• Enough of the Roman Wilson project. Bernard is already better than him. I know that Wilson had to play yesterday because of the Pittman injury, but when Pittman is healthy, Wilson should be WR4 behind Bernard. Like Warren, Bernard is a weapon on an offense that seems to have none.

Listen, this team is not a playoff team. They are mediocre at best and probably should be positioning themselves in a way that gets them a good shot at a franchise-level QB next draft. 

But that doesn’t mean they can’t compete. Make the changes and get the fanbase back into it.